Prince William and Kate Middleton's love story was a big deal for a lot of people. Here was the future king of England, the firstborn son of a controversial prince and a beloved late princess, and he'd finally found love.
Well, technically, he'd found love years before, but he waited until he was really, really sure. William didn't want to marry young, which meant he and Kate dated for seven years before he popped the question. When he did, the world stood still for a beat. We collectively needed a beat more when we learned that William gave his future bride his mother's beloved engagement ring.
Princess Diana's engagement ring was truly unique. The 12-carat oval Ceylon sapphire surrounded with 14 solitaire diamonds and set in 18-karat white gold was front and center during many of her appearances as a royal. After Diana's death, it was assumed the iconic piece was archived. As it turns out, one of Diana's sons asked for the ring after her death. It wasn't William.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles' love story may look entirely different with all we know now, but at the time, it was truly a fairy tale. The eligible bachelor prince found love in a meek, modest kindergarten teacher with a heart of gold. The engagement of the future king of England meant a lot to the loyal subjects who had watched him grow.
Diana's iconic engagement ring was one she chose herself. Charles let her choose from a number of designs presented by then-crown jeweler Garrard. The future Princess of Wales chose a 12-carat oval Ceylon sapphire surrounded with 14 solitaire diamonds and set in 18-karat white gold.
Unlike previous royal rings, it wasn't custom-made. Vogue reports the royals were allegedly not thrilled with the idea she picked a ring that anyone else could also have. It cost Charles $30,000 at the time. Perhaps the royals didn't consider the fact that not just anyone could pay that kind of money.
Diana decided to keep the ring when she and Charles split. In fact, she was occasionally seen wearing it, just because she loved the piece of jewelry itself so much. When she died, it was revealed that arrangements were made to divide her jewelry among her sons for their future wives.
"I would like you to allocate all my jewellery to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it," Diana allegedly wrote in a letter explaining what to do with her things should something happen to her, according to The Sun.
"I leave the exact division of the jewellery to your discretion."
According to Diana's butler, Paul Burrell, after Diana's death, he instructed the boys to each take a keepsake.
"Take something which belonged to her that you can keep safe," he recalled instructing them in the 2017 Amazon documentary The Diana Story. "What do you want William?"
"I'd like mummy's Cartier watch, the one that Grandpa Spencer gave to her for her 21st birthday," William reportedly replied.
When it was Harry's turn, he shared a memory. "I remember when I held mummy's hand when I was a small boy and that ring always hurt me because it was so big," he reportedly told Paul.
And so with that, Paul gave Harry the engagement ring.
When things with William and Kate started getting serious, Harry allegedly offered the ring to William. He is believed to like the idea of the ring sitting on the throne when Kate is one day queen consort.
William was grateful. Giving it to Kate meant a lot to him, as he shared during their ITV engagement interview.
"Well as you may recognize now, it's my mother's engagement ring and it's very special to me, as Kate is very special to me now as well. It was only right the two were put together," William said.
"It was my way of making sure mother didn't miss out on today and the excitement and the fact that we're going to spend the rest of our lives together."
When it came time for Harry to propose to Meghan, he too decided to incorporate Diana into things.
"The ring is obviously yellow gold because that's [Meghan's] favourite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection, to make sure that she's with us on this crazy journey together," Harry said during their BBC engagement interview.
